[Klima Reports] Solar power fuels Surigao island’s rise from Odette
On December 2021, Super Typhoon Odette, internationally known as Rai, devastated the provinces of Surigao del Norte and Dinagat Islands. A year later, Klima Fellows from Philippine Daily Inquirer Erwin Mascariñas and Ivy Marie Mangadlao visited one of the affected villages and documented how solar energy helped the community back on its feet.
Empower the children and youth to act on climate change
by Ira Dominique Guerrero | July 13, 2022 | Published by Inquirer.net | READ THE ABRIDGED VERSION HERE “When I came to think of my life in those days, considering my youth then, I am surprised how I stood it all,” Gregoria (“Oriang”) de Jesus, the nation’s ultimate Lakambini and Katipunera, wrote in her autobiography.Oriang was no stranger to hardships in her youth, but she had no fear of facing danger. She learned "how to ride, to shoot a rifle, and to manipulate other weapons” and she "accompanied soldiers in the battle, impelled" by the desire "to see unfurled the [...]
‘The future is frightening’
October 3, 2021 | Published by the Philippine Daily Inquirer | READ THE STORY HERE Last Sept. 24, hundreds of protesters across the country joined a global climate strike demanding urgent action from governments to address climate change. Among them were fisherfolk and young environment advocates who marched to the site of the controversial Manila Bay dolomite beach. As the protesters wearing face masks raised their fists and called for a more forceful response to the climate crisis, an excavator tractor stood idle in the background beside a pile of dolomite — a reminder of the billions wasted that should [...]
Long-term plans needed to protect Metro Manila’s most vulnerable from rising seas
Text by Jhesset Enano, photos by AC Dimatatac | September 27, 2021 | Published by Inquirer.net | READ THE STORY HERE (Last of two parts) Ariel Cortes has lived most of his life surrounded by water. As a young boy in the 1970s, he worked as a fishpond caretaker until he was old enough to join the fishers in Manila Bay. At 51, Cortes continues to fish in the bay with at least three other men from his community in Navotas. They set out at 4 p.m. daily on his fishing boat down the Batasan River and past towering [...]
Urban poor struggle to adapt as rising seas threaten to remap Metro Manila
Text by Jhesset Enano, photos by AC Dimatatac | September 26, 2021 | Published by Inquirer.net | READ STORY HERE (First of two parts) Odd-sized wooden stilts strain to keep Jocel Madrano’s house just over a meter above the gray polluted waters of Manila Bay. The shack, a patchwork of dilapidated plywood and partly anchored on a concrete seawall, is home to the 23-year-old mother of four. On one Friday noon in July, Madrano was watching over her children and several of their cousins enjoying a television show, wondering what her family’s life would be like away from the [...]